‘Minutes That Live Through the Years’

    

In the March 1927 issue of The New York Masonic Outlook, Grand Lodge’s recently launched first magazine, edited by the great H.L. Haywood of Publicity Lodge 1000.

Monday night was the occasion of the election of officers for the ensuing year at Publicity Lodge 1000. The night of June 1 will see the installation of our officers, at which time W. Bro. Kevin will return to the East to set the Craft at work, where he’d served two terms already in the previous decade; and W. Bro. Gary will be our Senior Warden in the West again, paying the Craft our wages. Bro. Jonathan remains in the South. (If I’m standing where the sun is at its meridian, I wouldn’t move either.)

The circumstances of these staffing decisions causes me to think about lodge minutes and the institutional memory that those records ensure. Is the whole story and complete truth being recorded? That doesn’t seem to be the way lodges do it any more. But a century ago, Publicity Lodge, which then was comprised of the advertising professionals who founded the lodge and, consequently, were inclined to record, if not extol, the lodge’s doings in great detail, had a fitting philosophy. Every event deserved journalistic reportage with mementos and ephemera appended thereto.

The Masonic author Bro. H.L. Haywood was brought to New York from Iowa during the Roaring ’20s to serve as editor of our Grand Lodge’s first magazine, The New York Masonic Outlook. Being an editorial professional, he naturally affiliated with Publicity 1000. The magazine co-sponsored a contest, seeking essays on things accomplished by individual Masons, lodges, or other groups. Publicity’s secretary, W. Bro. Louis W. Bleser, won the top prize (a hundred bucks—more than $1,900 in today’s money!). The judges read the entries not knowing the names of the writers, so I wouldn’t say Haywood prejudiced the judges in his lodge brother’s favor.

In the Knights of the North decades ago, we were fond of saying If listening to the minutes is boring, then your lodge meetings are boring, so fix that. Anyway, here is that winning essay:

Minutes That Live Through the Years

By Louis W. Bleser

The entrance to the Porch of King Solomon’s Temple were two pillars of brass. They were cast in the clay grounds on the banks of the River Jordan, and made hollow for the purpose of containing the rolls and records of our ancient brethren so that they might be preserved for future generations.

I have the honor to be a Past Master and secretary of a lodge which I believe is the only one in the world composed almost entirely of advertising men. It has come to my attention, however, that since our formation five years ago, a lodge was formed in London, and another in Boston, for newspaper men. Our lodge embraces all branches of the advertising profession. So that, while we are Master Masons, we are primarily advertising men, and our training in this great field of endeavor asserts itself prominently in all our Masonic work.

The most outstanding example of this is the minute book of our lodge. It is in itself a history, rather than the usual drab, unemotional and colorless recital of facts so common to the records of any organization—Masonic or otherwise.

I most certainly sympathize with lodge or club historians if the proceedings of their organizations are in the shape of most records that I have seen. A man would have to be a genius to make any sort of an interesting story from the usual hodgepodge called “the minutes.”

Like our ancient brethren, we wish to preserve to posterity the records of our lodge, because we think they are “different”—but then, as I have said before, we are advertising men, and why shouldn’t they be?

Let me cite, briefly, some of the ways in which I think our minutes differ. If this will help that great “brotherhood of overworked secretaries” to win a little more appreciation for their work, I leave this story with them for what it is worth.

W. Bro. Bleser, as mentioned in the September 20, 1938 edition of The New York Times.

To begin with, no detail, however small, is omitted from our minutes, either to save space or “get the reading of the minutes over with.” The records of our meetings, therefore, are a little longer than in most lodges—maybe half again as long—but we try to make them interesting.

The question might rightly be asked, “Isn’t it tiresome for the brethren to listen to long minutes?” If they are the usual kind—Yes! But when they are humanized and interesting—No!

And, too, our members are “different.” They are all professional men—advertising men—and the proper recording of the proceedings of our lodge is but a written exemplification of their life’s work.

When a new member (initiate or affiliate) is taken into our lodge, we find out everything we can about him. Not just the ordinary things required on an application blank—sidelights, you might call them—but things about his family, his hobbies, his various accomplishments, et al. These facts are not gotten from the applicant as a rule, but from his proposer and others who know him intimately.

A brother dies. Usually it is customary to drape the altar for thirty days, stand in silent prayer for a minute or so, and carry a brief note in the minutes. The secretary is instructed to write a letter of condolence. Fine! But we go further. Either the secretary or one of the intimate friends of the deceased writes a beautiful memorial for the lodge minutes. Many letters are sent to the widow. A record is kept of the names of brethren attending the funeral. Newspaper clippings bearing on the death of the brother are attached and made part of the record, and any other write-ups in newspapers or magazines.

A brother goes to Florida with his family. He is there a few months when the great hurricane strikes. The secretary finally manages to get word to him and finds that he is safe, although everything he owned was practically ruined by the storm. This brother did not need our help in any way, but he wrote a long story of the havoc wrought by the hurricane, and it was printed in a magazine and a copy attached to our minutes.

Another brother is re-elected president of one of the largest and most influential business clubs in the country by a unanimous vote. It is made part of the record.

On the occasion of the celebration of Benjamin Franklin’s birthday, a number of our brethren journeyed to Philadelphia, where they took part in impressive ceremonies at the Poor Richard Club, the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, and at Bro. Franklin’s grave. A wreath was placed on his grave in the name of the lodge, honoring him first as a Mason, second as a man, and third as an advertising man. A full record, including the names of the brethren attending, appears in the minutes, together with numerous photographs which appeared in newspapers throughout the country.

In order to make it easy for the secretary (or anyone else, for that matter) to find things in our minutes, everything carries a heading. We find such things as Sickness and Distress, Degree Work, Testimonial, Petitions, Amendments, etc. Then, too, the secretary’s ledger, where a full record of each brother is kept, is cross-indexed with the minute book, so that if he dimits, or any other change occurs, a record is made in the ledger with a note referring to page so-and-so in the lodge minutes. This makes it very easy to trace things, and is a saver of time.

One of our brothers visited a lodge in Canada, and like many lodges in the jurisdictions of Canada, its members eat before their meetings. Our brother got the signature of everyone at the table and this is attached to our lodge record.

Five of our members were honored by the French government for signal work in the great business of advertising. A record of their names and decorations, and other interesting data concerning the presentations, appear in the records.

To break the regular monotony of lodge meetings, we meet regularly once a month for luncheon at which time we are addressed by some prominent speaker on either a Masonic or a business subject. And during the warm summer months the divot-diggers of our lodge hold one, two, or sometimes three golf tournaments. There is no better way of getting to know your brothers better than by things such as these away from the lodge room. Of course a record is made for the lodge minutes.

Our lodge is fortunate in having Masonic affiliations in both England and Scotland. In fact, one of our Past Masters is one of two Americans living in the States here who has been master of an English lodge. Therefore, on the occasion of the great Advertising Convention in London two years ago, we arranged to have the British Masons work a Third Degree. The affair was by invitation, and arranged by our lodge insofar as getting in touch with American Masons was concerned, informing them what to wear, etc. We also sent over our lodge aprons, suitably marked for the occasion, as British lodges do not furnish aprons as we do. Every brother has his own apron and brings it with him. They meet in full dress and enjoy a banquet. There were toasts to the King, to the President of the United States, to the Worshipful Masters, et al., including a scroll which our lodge presented as a memento of the occasion. Our minutes carry a full report, with copies of the program, menu, scroll, etc. all of which are made a permanent part of our lodge record.

Our lodge had a return visit from our British brethren the following year, and it was named “British Night.” It was a memorable occasion, some of the Scottish brethren among them being attired in their kilts. They even brought a piper.

A copy of the annual reports of the master, treasurer, secretary and others is made in the records, their original report being filed, and they are asked to sign the same so that their signatures, as well as their reports, may be preserved forever. While the method outlined above makes more work for the secretary, the lodge record is thus kept intact, and many documents are preserved that would otherwise be lost.

The most outstanding departure from the usual course of recording minutes appears in the proceedings on the occasion of the annual election of officers. For the first time, so far as the knowledge of the writer goes, the nominating speeches of all the elective officers and their speeches of acceptance appear verbatim in the record. This is, we believe, a very unusual departure, and we realize that as most secretaries do not write shorthand, this usually would be well-nigh impossible. They could make notes, however, in longhand, and check up with the brethren making the nomination and acceptance speeches later. This is especially interesting as it will give persons, who might read our record twenty years hence, a picture of the type of men holding office in our lodge in these days.

A brother is going to take a three-month trip around the world. He will write an account of his experiences for the lodge record.

On top of all this, the master (who, by the way, is a well known copywriter) is preparing a history of the lodge to be printed and named The First Five Years. It will include everything that appears in the minutes, together with photographs of members, their age, occupation, nativity, dates of initiating, passing, and raising, and affiliations with other Masonic bodies. I believe it will be one of the most interesting and unusual histories of a Masonic lodge ever printed. We plan to do this every five years.

Interesting events, such as those noted, tend to make “minutes that live through the years,” and, I believe, entitle us to say that they are “different.”

     

‘The ALR and AASR on May 30’

    

Click to enlarge.

The American Lodge of Research’s greatly anticipated visit to Saugerties is near. Be there Saturday, May 30 at Ulster Lodge 193 when we will join forces with the local Rose Croix chapter for a day of Masonic learning.

Our Worshipful Master and Senior Master of Ceremonies will speak from the lectern, as will officers from the Scottish Rite Valley of the Hudson.

The image above has all the details.

George Clinton Chapter of Rose Croix meets in Ulster Lodge’s building. (The valley’s lodge, council, and consistory are dispersed about the region.) All Master Masons are welcome.

The Hudson Valley is my favorite part of the state—at least once you’re north of Seventy-Second Street. 

My one memento of former Scottish Rite labors is a Past MWM jewel, which I think I’ll wear to our meeting.

Hope to see you there. (This is not Memorial Day weekend, which will be the previous week.)

The ALR’s next meeting will be our annual, for the election and installation of officers, on Tuesday, June 30. We’ll be back at Masonic Hall in Manhattan. Anticipate a 7:30 tiling. Colonial Room on ten.

     

‘The five senses at Nutley 25’

    

I’ll try to catch up recapping recent events. Maybe work my way backward, starting with a visit to Nutley Lodge 25 in New Jersey last Monday.

It was my first time back since 2016, so I wasn’t surprised to meet mostly new faces, but being with Bill, Joe, George, Ed, Rowland, et al. seemed like old times. I was invited over to present a talk from the lectern, so I delivered my explanation of how a Scottish philosopher’s eighteenth century findings on man’s five physical senses came to be included in our Middle Chamber Lecture.

In “It’s Just Common Sense: Thomas Reid and the Fellow Craft Degree,” I share what is known of the Second Degree before the influence of William Preston is felt; then we see Preston in his print shop, where he very well might have worked on Reid’s An Inquiry into the Human Mind; and then we hear Preston’s paragraphs on physical senses. The talk is almost half over by the time I get to Reid’s treatise, zeroing in on his second chapter, titled “Smelling.” (It would require too much time to sample Reid’s thoughts on all the senses.) In short, Dr. Reid, who founded The School of Common Sense, authored the words on the five senses in the 1760s that Preston <cough> borrowed for his book Illustrations of Masonry in the 1770s, which is the basis of so much of what we say in lodge to this day. When connecting those dots, I had to cite New York’s version of the Middle Chamber Lecture also because more of Reid’s words are evident there than in New Jersey’s, which only briefly has some of that source material. I hope it all left a palatable taste in the brethren’s mouths.

In fact, the Q&A mostly was about the differences in New York and New Jersey rituals. The audience was surprised to hear about the intricacies of our New York material. We have a bigger Middle Chamber production. Without even getting into our optional long form, New York lodges’ Second Degree lecture has organ music and singing—and I swear I once saw some soft shoe on the Winding Staircase! (Although that may have been a dream. Robert Morse was there.) Before wrapping up, we chatted about Garibaldi Lodge’s exotic EA°, which left an impression on those brothers who experienced it.

My thanks to Worshipful Master Nicholas Luciano for allowing me to do this. It’s always a great time at Nutley. I hope they bring me back one night. If you’ll be in the neighborhood, Monday the 18th will be the occasion of the Official Visit of the District Deputy Grand Master.

     

‘A Historic 1820s Table Lodge’

    

Ben Hoff has researched the period accuracy of the ritual to be employed in this table lodge, so expect something different from the usual.

Tonight’s convocation of Scott Chapter 4 in New Jersey was most enjoyable. I think I counted fifteen Royal Arch Masons in attendance for the occasion of the Official Visit of RE Michael Flaherty, District Deputy GHP.

We elected two Master Masons to membership by initiation, and two Royal Arch Masons to membership by affiliation. Companion Flaherty delivered an educational talk on the veils. Drawing from ritual, Scripture, and personal reflections, he explained meaningful symbolism of the banners to help us better understand what we Royal Arch Masons do in our chapters.

U.S. Mint

The Keystone State.

A good question was posed afterward: Why do chapters in New Jersey hang four banners, but chapters in Pennsylvania hang three? No one was certain of the exact answer. I kept my mouth shut—I’m learning!—because some people get cranky when I offer some information. Questions like this usually can be answered simply, as historical facts circumvent poetic interpretations. Long story short: Jeremy Ladd Cross wrote the four-banner arrangement into his book of 1819, therefore that is what the General Grand Chapter stipulates. New Jersey, being a member of the General Grand Chapter, consequently uses the four. Pennsylvania is not part of the GGC, and they use a ritual inherited from the Ancients of England. Just as Pennsylvania lodge ritual is distinct from everything else in America, their Royal Arch ritual too is different. It’s the Keystone State! Let ’em do what they want.

And, while I was there, I learned of this event coming next month.

Union Lodge 19 is our landlord—as it has been through most of our history since the 1850s—and its Master, W. Bro. Eric, is our Principal Sojourner in chapter. He told us about this table lodge.

I know the story of William Morgan is nothing to celebrate but, being how 2026 is the bicentenary of that disaster, which ignited the anti-Masonic panic of the 1820s and ’30s, we ought to teach each other about it. I’m always surprised when I encounter a Mason who knows nothing about the “Morgan Affair” and the resulting political turmoil in the Northeast, but not everyone knows.

So, the particulars are shown in the flier above. All I can add is Eric says the table lodge ritual is authentic to the period, as researched by Ben Hoff, New Jersey’s “go to guy” for the history of Masonic ritual. If Ben says this is the way they did it 200 years ago, you can toast with confidence. He is a Past Master of New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786, where he writes prodigiously about how Masonic rituals evolved over the centuries.

Keynote speaker Craig Applebaum is our immediate Past Master at the research lodge. While I haven’t heard this specific talk from him, I don’t doubt it will be informative and engaging.

Sorry to say I probably won’t be able to attend. My speaking engagement in Oklahoma will be St. John’s Day, and the cable tow stretches only so far. But you should go!

If this subject interests you, please add the research lodge’s meeting of Saturday, September 12 (9:30 a.m.) to your calendar. That’s when I will discuss the Anti-Masonic Party in New Jersey. I’ll talk about the Morgan Affair as a necessary introduction to the topic of the political movement in the Garden State that almost killed off the Masonic fraternity there. By the time the hysteria abated, there were only a couple of lodges and a few dozen Masons still standing. (And you thought there were problems now!) The lodge also meets at Union 19 in North Brunswick.

     

‘MRF is going to Texas’

    

It's official: The Masonic Restoration Foundation’s 2027 Symposium (No. 15 if you’re keeping score) will be hosted in San Antonio, Texas.

We all should go just for the food.

Be there, at Merit Lodge 727, August 21-23.

Pete Normand will be your keynote speaker at the Harmony on Friday night. The speakers and panelists on Saturday and Sunday will be: Brad Billings, Greg Bodine, Patrick Craddock, Robert G. Davis, Andrew Hammer, Dan Kemble, Brad Kohanke, Pete Normand, David Ritter, Jim Rumsey, Sean Starr, and Christopher Thompson.

Click here for the program, registration info, hotel, etc.

     

‘Elected Grand Officers installed’

    

Ted Jacobsen photo

The Most Worshipful Robert L. Hogan, Jr. takes the obligation with the help of Past Grand Masters Vincent Libone, William Sardone, and Steven Rubin. That is the George Washington Inaugural Bible atop the cushion.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has counted and certified the votes, and the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in the State of New York has new elected leadership for the term.

Ted Jacobsen photo

R∴W∴ E. Oscar Alleyne takes the obligation to become our Deputy Grand Master yesterday in the Grand Lodge Room of Masonic Hall in New York City.

The 244th Annual Communication at Masonic Hall in Manhattan concluded yesterday. Congratulations to:

Most Worshipful Robert L. Hogan, Jr.

Grand Master

Right Worshipful E. Oscar Alleyne

Deputy Grand Master

R∴W∴ John Haslam, Sr.

Senior Grand Warden

R∴W∴ William Toth

Junior Grand Warden

R∴W∴ John Hansen

Grand Treasurer

R∴W∴ Richard Schulz

Grand Secretary

I haven’t heard anything about the appointed officer line. I think that news will come when they are installed during St. John’s Weekend at Utica.

Ted Jacobsen photo

Installing Grand Marshal William Sardone conducts Deputy Grand Master-Elect Oscar Alleyne to the altar  to take the obligation of his office. This dynamic duo put The ALR back in business five years ago.

(If you’re in north Jersey tonight, get over to Adoniram Lodge 80 in Lyndhurst where Oscar will be guest speaker. The guy never stops. What can I say?)

     

‘New York’s 24-Month Gauge’

    

The two-year tenure of The Most Worshipful Steven A. Rubin, Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York, is in its final hours. This afternoon, our Grand Lodge will have a new elected Grand Line for the ensuing twelve months; if those elected are successful, they could expect to be returned to their offices next May for the following year too.

The bar for success as Grand Master here has been set extraordinarily high. Successors would be wise to divide their time with a 24-Month Gauge—even if they are not able to pack their terms with the kind of ceaseless activity we’ve witnessed lately.

It’s hard to explain how this happened, but because of the path I have tread in Freemasonry these past twenty or so years, I have been in regular contact with grand masters and grand lodges around the country. I talk to, correspond with, and otherwise am kept aware of what many of them do with their terms of office. I read their grand lodge periodicals, follow them on social media, and always try to remember there must be diversity in leadership styles even as I wonder how some approach their jobs casually or even haphazardly. Therefore, I can say without any hesitation, mental reservation, etc. that our Bro. Steve has been the most consequential Grand Master in this country in the decades I’ve been hanging around the apartments of the Temple.

How can something so subjective be declared fairly?

It’s the quality and quantity of the programs hatched or revamped for the benefit of the Craft since May 2024. And much of that is oriented for the education of the Freemason and the preservation of Masonic culture.

I don’t have a complete list, so overwhelming is the evidence, but here’s what I can tell you (in no particular order):

MW Steven A. Rubin

✓ First Light Project

✓ Civic Square Club

✓ Speakers Bureau

✓ Ambassadors Abroad

✓ Lodge of Excellence Program

✓ Grand Lodge Retention Program

✓ Masonic Passport Program

✓ Masonic Culture Classes

✓ Chamber of Reflection in Masonic Hall

✓ Masonic Con New York

✓ Grand Lodge Community Service Initiative

✓ Académie Esoterica

✓ restored Masonic University’s Masonic Scholars Program

✓ HIRAM online system

✓ Masonic Walking Tours

✓ A Grand Lodge tartan

✓ 1781 Society

✓ Masonic Hall Committee

✓ Special Projects Committee

✓ New Member Welcome Kit

✓ Lodge Vitality Grants

✓ Marketing Committee

✓ Long Range Planning Committees

✓ Craftsmen Online

✓ Our Quarry newsletter

✓ new management of the ESM magazine

That’s not all of it. Plus, there were countless tweaks to systems and unexpected emergencies that had to be tackled. Of course he didn’t do it all single-handedly, but he’s the engine that propelled the bus. (Sometimes there should be a muffler, but be that as it may.)

Bravo to our Grand Master on his truly amazing service to our Grand Lodge. And congratulations in advance to RW Robert Hogan, who will become our next Grand Master this afternoon. I cannot attend (somebody has to work and pay the bills in this country!) but I’ll post whatever news I can gather.

If the other grand lodges had leadership like this, no one would have time or feel need to worry about declining membership numbers.

     

‘Staten Island corner named for historic Freemasons’

    

Staten Island Advance

The intersection of two avenues in the Rosebank section of Staten Island has been named for a pair of historic Italian Freemasons, according to local news media. The corner of Tompkins and Chestnut avenues now has additional signage, as the former street was dedicated to Antonio Meucci, and the latter to Giuseppe Garibaldi last Wednesday.

Staten Island Advance

From left: New York Italian Consulate General Giuseppe Pastorelli, City Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks, District Attorney Michael McMahon, community leader Fran Curcio, National President Order Sons & Daughters of Italy Thomas Lupo. Seated is Joseph Sciame, chairman and CEO of the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum. At the far right is Dean Anthony J. Tamburri of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute.

The honor is based on the historical significance of the two immigrants, and not their Masonic affiliations. The Order Sons and Daughters of Italy took part in the public ceremony and, to my knowledge, no one from the Masonic Order was involved.

I cannot pin down Meucci’s Masonic affiliation. You know Garibaldi: Having joined the Grand Orient of France’s Les Amis de la Patrie lodge in Montevideo in 1844, he also was known to have visited lodges in New York (1850) and London (1853-4) before being raised to the Third Degree in 1860. Several years later, he was made a Scottish Rite Mason. In 1864, he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy. Garibaldi often is referred to as the George Washington of Italy, for his military and political success in unifying Italy and creating the nation-state we know today. But, unlike Washington, Garibaldi saw Freemasonry as a force to accomplish the goals of establishing the national sovereignty and securing a democratic system for its people.

Speaking on the sixtieth anniversary of the chartering of Garibaldi Lodge 542 in New York, Bro. Frank Bellini said:

… After the fall of the Roman Republic (1849), which he had strenuously defended, Giuseppe Garibaldi, the almost legendary champion of humanity, escaped from the papal and other tyrants’ gendarmerie and arrived in New York on board the ship Waterloo on July 10, 1850. One of the very first men whom Garibaldi met in America was a Brother Mason, [Antonio] Meucci, who, faithful to Masonic principles, welcomed the hero to his home on Staten Island. Garibaldi described this incident in his memoirs thus: “carried ashore like a trunk (suffering from rheumatism) at Staten Island, met a good man, a Florentine. He decided to establish a candle factory, and invited me to join him as partner, but having no capital, I adapted myself to do some work. Meucci treated me not like a workman but as one of his own family, which much love.”

 

Text of the speech in the June 1925 Masonic Review.

It seems that Garibaldi was soon offered a command in the United States Army by President Lincoln; he admired this country so much that he applied for citizenship and took out his first papers. During the time that Garibaldi remained in America and with Meucci, he must have been a powerful inspiration and comfort to the old scientist, who alternated his candle making with experimenting to perfect his invention of the telephone. Later, in order to uphold his right to priority in this invention, Meucci had to sustain a long court fight, in which he exhausted not only all his resources, but all his strength and energy. Penniless and heartbroken, he died in August of the following year (1889) in his little home on Staten Island.

   

@nerdyheartphotography

The Garibaldi and Italian lodges conducted the funeral service with full Masonic ritual, assisted by a strong delegation of members from other lodges. On September 16, 1923, the Italians erected a monument to his memory in front of his home at Rosebank, S.I., the work of MW Bro. Ettore Ferrari, illustrious sculptor and Past Grand Master of Masons in Italy.

That “little home on Staten Island” today is the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, which has been owned by the Sons of Italy Foundation since 1919, and stands at the intersection renamed last Wednesday. It is open to visitors Thursday through Saturday, from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission costs $10 per person.

    

‘Revisiting Solomon’s House’

    

Title page of one edition of New Atlantis, from 1899, found online here. The original copy in the digital scan comes from the Bodleian Library, which was opened during Bacon’s lifetime on November 8, 1602.

A recap of The ALR’s table lodge last night is forthcoming (actually, I have a lot more catching up to do), but I close out this month with a commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the death of Francis Bacon, which I meant to finish three weeks ago.

On April 9, 1626,* Bacon died at age 65 in London. Rather than recount his supersize life, nor dare approach that Bacon/Shakespeare, Masonic/Rosicrucian thing, as riveting as that reading can be, I took the opportunity lately to revisit his unfinished story New Atlantis in my reading preparatory to a paper I hope to submit for a future Heredom.

It is said he’d been writing it during the early 1620s, but it was printed posthumously, maybe something he wouldn’t have been keen on because of its incompleteness. Weighing in at only forty-one pages, New Atlantis has no climax or conclusion. There is an abrupt ending, but his story may foreshadow the establishment of the Royal Society just a few decades later. Bacon authored this story in English, which can’t be said of all his writings.

Atlantis, unknown to modern man, but in the minds of ancient Greeks, was said to have been located in the Atlantic Ocean, outside the Straits of Gibraltar. Plato was the first, as far as we know, to write of it. The mythical island was exhumed in Western consciousness when Plato’s (and others’) writings fueled the Renaissance. Bacon’s New Atlantis is placed in the Pacific. Mention is made in New Atlantis to “the great Atlantis”—as a reference to America.

etymonline

Click to enlarge.

His story is referred to as a utopian fable and, when assigned in academic reading, very often is paired with Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, published in 1516. That author coined the word “utopia,” borrowing from Greek elements ou (not) and topos (place). Literally, utopia means “nowhere”—a place that does not exist. I think it’s safe to say this story influenced Bacon.

New Atlantis tells of a Spanish ship adrift in the Pacific that finds the island Bensalem, a name also worthy of etymological examination. And I’d love to learn how Bacon decided to make his lost sailors Spanish, given the sea change of 1588 and his assessment of the Catholic Monarchy. Initially, these Spanish seafaring men are warded off by the island natives, but once their Christian faith is confirmed, they are allowed to debark and are permitted food and rest for a time. On land, the Spanish discover these island people know a life only of bounty, safety, and harmony cultivated by both high moral cultural norms and an advanced scientific knowledge.

Brotherly love is the foundation of the society. While the moral code of the people derives from a peculiar “apostolical and miraculous evangelism of St. Bartholomew,” the words of the Old and New Testaments were comprehensible to the “Hebrews, Persians, and Indians” who inhabited the land with the natives.

The island’s history is explained through dialogue, rather than narration. The Spaniards’ principal contact is a “Christian priest” who holds the office of governor of the House of Strangers, the place where these visitors are billeted. He says:

There reigned in this island, about nineteen hundred years ago, a king whose memory of all others we most adore, not superstitiously, but as a divine instrument, though a mortal man: his name was Solomona, and we esteem him as the lawgiver of our nation. This king had a large heart, inscrutable for good, and was wholly bent to make his kingdom and people happy.

Among Solomona’s accomplishments was:

...the erection and institution of an order or society, which we call Solomon’s House, the noblest foundation, as we think, that ever was upon the earth, and the lantern of this kingdom. It is dedicated to the study of the works and creatures of God. Some think it beareth the founder’s name a little corrupted, as if it should be Solomona’s House; but the records write it as it is spoken. So as I take it to be denominates of the king of the Hebrews, which is famous with you, and no stranger to us, for we have some parts of his works which with you are lost; namely, that natural history which he wrote of all plants, “from the cedar of Libanus to the moss that groweth out of the wall,” and of all things that have life and motion. This maketh me think that our king, finding himself to symbolizes in many things with that king of the Hebrews which lived many years before him, honored him with the title of this foundation. And I am the rather induced to be of this opinion, for that I find in ancient records this order or society is sometimes called Solomon’s House, and sometimes the College of the Six Days’ Works; whereby I am satisfied that our excellent king had learned from the Hebrews that God had created the world, and all that therein is, within six days, and therefore he instituting that house for the finding out of the true nature of all things, whereby God might have the more glory in the workmanship of them, and men the more fruits in their use of them, did give it also that second name.

In Bacon’s age, such students of the world were known as natural philosophers. We call them scientists. In this story, they are shown to have mastered the elements, literally curating the land, waters, and air—with all their wildlife, crops, and minerals—to ensure the health and well being of the island’s inhabitants. “We have also a mathematical house, where are represented all instruments, as well of geometry as astronomy, exquisitely made,” the Spanish are told. “These are, my son, the riches of Solomon’s House.”

If you know how Bacon pursued scientific inquiry in his intellectual life, and his thoughts on religion, you can see why he might also use fiction to marry concepts of the spirit with exploration of the material.

The final, albeit not closing, paragraph.

The conversation continues, revealing the splendor of Bensalem, with a frank explanation of how such deep and broad knowledge was accumulated, before the tale trails off to a void. “The rest was not perfected.” is the note to the reader admitting the frustrating cliffhanger of this premature conclusion. Yet it’s a fun read, with a number of references that Freemasons would appreciate, and with themes that would be obvious to certain Rosicrucians. At only a few dozen pages, New Atlantis can be read easily in less than an hour, with ample time for puffing a pipe and sipping some sack.

*They used a different calendar back then, so just play along.

     

‘James Mitchell Varnum at Collegivm Luminosvm’

    

Click to enlarge.

Collegium Luminosum, the research lodge in the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, has an evening planned for next month when a local historian will discuss the life of a Revolutionary War general and Rhode Island Mason. The graphic above has the particulars.

The historic brother in question, James Mitchell Varnum, was with St. John’s Lodge 1 in Providence, but his military career naturally took him outside the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He fought here in New York, both at Long Island and White Plains, for example.

The lodge’s speaker on May 22, Mr. Geake, has authored a biography titled A Man of Uncommon Valor: James Mitchell Varnum, the American Revolution, and the Foundation of the New Republic, which will be published shortly.

The formidable James Royal Case, of ALR fame, in his Fifty Early American Military Freemasons, in 1955, writes:

James Mitchell Varnum

The first convocation of Masons in Ohio (of which there is any record) took place at the funeral of this distinguished brother at Marietta in January 1789. Cut off before his fortieth birthday, resident in the Northwest Territory less than a year, his life career had been a short but notable one. In military, Masonic and civic attainments he had, through sheer merit and unsought preferment, gone beyond his aspirations. The mourners in his funeral procession included a visiting delegation of Indian warriors, officers of the garrison at Fort Harmar, colleagues in the civil government, compatriots of the Society of the Cincinnati, and brethren of the Masonic fraternity. Ahead of the coffin marched four masters of ceremony bearing on mourning cushions appropriate emblems of his connection with the military, the judiciary, the Cincinnati, and the Masons. The latter acted as an occasional lodge for this ceremony, but the following year American Union Lodge was reopened at Marietta, marking the introduction of regular Freemasonry into Ohio.

Varnum was born at Dracut, Massachusetts in 1748 and was sent to Harvard to complete his formal schooling. Among those expelled following some disorder among the students, he transferred to Rhode Island College at Warren, of which Brown University is the present day successor. As a member of the first class to graduate, he took as a topic for his commencement oration the thesis that America should not be independent! He taught school for a year or two while he studied law with the attorney general of the state, following which he began his own law practise in East Greenwich. He was extraordinarily alert mentally, possessed great powers of concentration, and was a fluent and copious speaker. The Revolutionary War called him away from his legal pursuits for a while.

Possessed of a powerful physique, athletically inclined, an advocate of physical fitness and drill discipline, he became in 1774 colonel of the “Kentish Guards,” from whose ranks came many officers of the revolutionary army. Nathaniel Greene was an associate of those days. In 1775, Varnum commanded a regiment of state troops and was given command of the 9th regiment of Continentals in 1776. He served at the Siege of Boston and in the Battles of Long Island and White Plains.

Promoted brigadier general in 1777, he was entrusted with command of forts Mercer and Mifflin on the Delaware, defensive works for Philadelphia. Although he was eventually driven out by the British, he was commended by Washington for holding out as long as he did. His brigade was one of those which spent a miserable winter at Valley Forge, where the commander in chief said he was “the light of the camp,” perhaps with a special signification.

The following year found him fighting in his native state at Newport and for a few months in command of the department. However, his health had given way and, unable to endure the rigors of field duty, he resigned his commission. But there was no rest for the weary. He was sent to the Continental Congress in 1780 and served at intervals until 1787. He was appointed Major General of Rhode Island militia, and elected the head of the state Society of the Cincinnati. His law cases were many and notable in the history of the Rhode Island bar.

He became interested in the Ohio Land Company, was one of the original directors, and appointed to the bench as one of three judges for the territorial government to be established. Hoping to regain his health, improve his fortune, and advance in his profession, he went to Marietta on horseback in June 1789, leaving behind him a childless wife who was to survive him by forty-eight years. He began his new duties hopefully and happily enough but within the year he was dead. About all he had found time to get done was a code of laws.

Although his lungs were weakening, his voice was still strong and his mind was keen. His reputation as a public speaker was considerable and must have preceded him, as he was only in Marietta a week before he was chosen by the citizens and the Cincinnati to deliver the principal address at the first Fourth of July exercises ever held in Ohio. At home he had been much in demand as orator at Masonic gatherings, one notable occasion being the observance of St. John the Evangelist Day at Providence in December 1778. Major General John Sullivan was the guest of honor and dozens of military officers were present as visitors. Varnum was a member of old St. John’s Lodge in Providence, which is numbered among those few in America rounding out their second century of existence.

Read more about Varnum here at the website of the Varnum Armory Museum in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. And the Varnum House Museum is here.

     

‘An “unhappy Man” vs. the “pursuit of Happiness”’

    

The Sunday Times

Mr. Cole Tomas Allen of California, an unhappy man, is in custody after a failed attempt on President Donald Trump’s life hours ago at the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner in Washington, DC.

A good (and familiar) question was posed the other day on Faceypage and, since the semiquincentennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is near, I thought I’d expand my limited answer to that query for this edition of The Magpie Mason.

Bro. Thomas of Thornton Lodge 486 in Texas asks:

“Can someone please explain whether or not the 3rd paragraph of the EA Charge is actually a charge or a suggestion?”

Knowing nothing about any ritual(s) promulgated by the Grand Lodge of Texas, I didn’t know what might be communicated in the third paragraph of his lodge’s Entered Apprentice Charge, but the abundant replies to his question clarified that for me. In New York, we actually have two charges from which to choose to instruct the youngest Entered Apprentice. The first charge includes the following (although it’s the fourth graf):

In the State you are to be a quiet and peaceable citizen, true to your government and just to your country. You are not to countenance disloyalty or rebellion, but are patiently to submit to legal authority, and conform with cheerfulness to the government of the country in which you live.

As an aside, I’ll point out how this echoes in our Installation of Officers. In seating the new Worshipful Master, he must agree to fifteen commands, including:

II. You agree to be a peaceful citizen, and cheerfully conform to the laws of the country in which you reside.

III. You promise not to be concerned in plots or conspiracies against the government, but patiently submit to the law and the constituted authorities.

IV. You agree to pay a proper respect to the civil magistrates, to work diligently, live creditably, and act honorably by all men.

None of the above are Masonic secrets. The EA Charge is not protected by oath; the Ancient Charges and Regulations for the lodge’s new Master can be heard by all who witness the ceremony, which often is attended by our families and friends. What wisely was kept confidential were Thomas’ reasons for asking, as he did not reveal personal political opinions or why he might take being a peaceable citizen as merely a suggestion for Masons.

Anyway, here is my long form Magpie answer:

I wouldn’t think any part of a charge would be discretionary, but that [third paragraph] part most definitely is a command that reverberates through history.

The idea enters Masonic ritual via The Rev. James Anderson’s book The Constitutions of the Free-Masons from 1723, the jurisprudence (although it contains other content) of the premier Grand Lodge of England.

The best known, most frequently cited portion of that book is “The Charges of a Free-Mason.” Not only is this section kept current by the United Grand Lodge of England, but also we find this section reproduced in the pages of grand lodges’ law books all over the world. We New Yorkers can read it on page 57 of Masonic Law of New York. Freemasons who don’t know Anderson’s Constitutions should read it because it informs much of what we think, say, and do in our lodges. (This will be covered in what I’ll present to the Observant lodges of Oklahoma when I step to the lectern on St. John’s Day.)

Charge I, “Concerning God and Religion,” is credited by some historians for partly inspiring the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, but Charge II is our topic today, to wit (spelling modernized):

II. Of the Civil Magistrate supreme and subordinate.

 

A Mason is a peaceable Subject to the Civil Powers, wherever he resides or works, and is never to be concerned in Plots and Conspiracies against the Peace and Welfare of the Nation, nor to behave himself undutifully to inferior Magistrates; for as Masonry has been always injured by War, Bloodshed, and Confusion, so ancient Kings and Princes have been much disposed to encourage the Craftsmen, because of their Peaceableness and Loyalty, whereby they practically answered the Cavils of their Adversaries, and promoted the Honor of the Fraternity, whoever flourished in Times of Peace. So that if a Brother should be a Rebel against the State, he is not to be countenanced in his Rebellion, however he may be pitied as an unhappy Man; and, if convicted of no other Crime, though the loyal Brotherhood must and ought to disown his Rebellion, and give no Umbrage or Ground of political Jealousy to the Government for the time being; they cannot expel him from the Lodge, and his Relation to it remains indefeasible.

Click to enlarge.

You see the similarities to the charges shown above. This is whence they came.

Anderson’s book also contains a legendary history of Freemasonry, some of which is factual, some fanciful. Among the reliably accurate notes is mention of English laws dating to the Middle Ages. In England, the various Statutes of Laborers regulated stone masons’ qualifications, remuneration, ability to meet, and other details, but the statute of 1405 specifically compelled such workers to take an annual oath to comply with the law. Anderson writes (spelling modernized):

Now though in the third Year of the said King Henry VI, while an Infant of about four Years old, the Parliament made an Act, that affected only the WORKING Masons, who had, contrary to the Statutes for Laborers, confederated not to work but at their own Price and Wages; and because such Agreements were supposed to be made at the General Lodges, called in the Act: Chapters and Congregations of Masons, it was then thought expedient to level the said Act against the said Congregations: Yet when the said King Henry VI arrived to Man’s Estate, the Masons laid before him and his Lords the above-mentioned Records and Charges, who, tis plain, reviewed them, and solemnly approved of them as good and reasonable to be holden: Nay, the said King and his Lords must have been incorporated with the Free-Masons, before they could make such Review of the Records; and in this Reign, before King Henry’s Troubles, Masons were much encouraged. Nor is there any Instance of executing that Act: in that, or in any other Reign since, and the Masons never neglected their Lodges for it, nor ever thought it worthwhile to employ their NOBLE and EMINENT BRETHREN to have it repealed; because the working Masons, that are free of the Lodge, scorn to be guilty of such Combinations; and the other free Masons have no Concern in Trespasses against the Statutes for Laborers.

Stone masons’ literature of the 1400s, namely the Regius Poem, communicates the same thinking. The marvelous website of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon still shows the poem and the modern translation, from 1923 by Bro. Roderick Baxter of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076, including:

In 1799, with the bloodbath of the French Revolution in mind, the British government devised the Unlawful Societies Act. The law, which remained enforceable until 1967, banned groups, that met in secret and that required oaths, out of fear of organized political subversion. Freemasonry, being loyal and peaceful in its activities, was exempted from the law. (If you’ll be in London on May 14, get to QC 2076 at Freemasons’ Hall to hear Bro. Paul Calderwood present his paper on this law.)

In more recent years, Masons’ practice of being peaceable citizens has proven valuable in inoculating the Craft from suspicion. For example, when the Irish Republican Army seized the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in Dublin exactly 104 years ago, they relinquished control of the property (after six weeks) because Michael Collins and Arthur Griffiths were satisfied that Irish Freemasonry was apolitical and nonsectarian, despite its fraternal connection to England. More information on that here.

National Archives

What about the Declaration of Independence? The American Revolution placed Freemasons here in rebellion and war against their king. That’s not very peaceful! How did our Masonic ancestors, the famous and the obscure alike, square their commitment to the Craft with their revolution? Benjamin Franklin knew about Anderson. The first Masonic book printed in the New World was Franklin’s reprint of Anderson’s Constitutions in 1734.

Perhaps Anderson’s Charge II sometimes must be a romantic ideal, something aspirational, that has to be suspended when considering “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” for yourself and your posterity. Then again, on the practical side, America’s Founders, whether Masons or not, did not see the distant British king as their civil authority. After all, the colonists had no representation in Parliament. There were sympathizers (Bro. Edmund Burke and others), but that’s not the same as electing your own MPs. Meanwhile, the colonists here did elect local representatives and were used to having their say in government. Therefore, a rebellion against the government across the ocean could be outside the boundaries of Anderson’s charge.

In addition, we would be wise to consider that Anderson wrote for his time. (He’d be stunned to hear us talking about him 300 years later.) 1723 was early in the Hanoverian era, the dawn of which finally concluded decades of political violence in England. Think about what happened there between 1640 and 1721. Some of the major points:

➢ The Long Parliament

➢  Civil War

➢  Regicide of Charles I

➢  Cromwell

➢  The Restoration

➢  Glorious Revolution

➢  Bill of Rights

➢  The Act of Union

➢  The Hanoverian Succession

➢  Bro. Walpole as Prime Minister

There’s stability by 1723. The Grand Lodge, desiring royal patronage, wants to be known as being supportive of the constitutional monarchy, and so codifies its peaceful intentions, noting their historical basis.

Other replies to Bro. Thomas’ question on Thursday placed the Declaration of Independence at odds with the EA Charge, and even hinted it may be time to knock off this peaceful citizen business. (It appears those remarks have vanished.) But that is a valid question Thomas poses. How should we today reconcile Anderson’s “unhappy Man” and Jefferson’s “pursuit of Happiness?”